Israeli soldiers shot, on Saturday, Hatem Yassin Abu Mayyala, 13, with a rubber-coated steel bullet in the head, as he was walking to school, in Ras al-‘Amoud neighborhood in Silwan town, in occupied Jerusalem.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan (Silwanic) said the child was shot in the back of his head, shortly after he stepped out of the bus with his twin brother, and started walking towards their school.
“There were some limited clashes in the area; I was crossing the road with my twin brother heading to school, and he went to get to a grocery store before entering school,” he said, “A soldier fired a rubber-coated steel bullet directly at me from a close range; I was just trying to find my brother.”
The child also told Silwanic that approximately six Israeli soldiers surrounded him after he was shot, and started beating him, including on his head.
The soldiers later took the wounded child to another area in Ras al-‘Amoud, before calling for an ambulance that took him to Hadassah Ein Karem Medical Center, in Jerusalem.
The child’s father said that the school phoned him to inform him about his son’s injury shortly after he was wounded, and that a soldier told him that his son was under arrest.
“The army only allowed me to see my son while being treated in the ambulance,” Yassin said, “He was crying and screaming from severe pain.”
The Israeli army decided to release the child on the condition that he attends interrogation after his discharge from the hospital, as the soldiers are accusing him of throwing stones on their vehicle.
However, when the father reached Hadassah hospital and went to his son’s room, he found several soldiers waiting for the doctors to finish, and started interrogating the child despite his head injury and sharp pain.
